Turtle Insight
The Norwegian pilgrimage to Rome is a source of many joys. You can find pictures and videos here. It is a gift for us all to have this time together – and with groups from the other Nordic Countries. Though still fairly quiet, Rome is abuzz with jubilee exhilaration. The city has accomplished remarkable feats, including the splendid new pedestrian area between Castel Sant’Angelo and the Via della Conciliazione. In the midst of all this movement, though, I keep thinking of a scene observed in the Vatican Gardens on Wednesday: a turtle arrested in contemplation of its fellows rather alarmingly suspended in an ancient freeze – a kind of reptiles’ memento mori, a reflection on transience. Generations of Vatican turtles have seen fads come and go, remaining meanwhile serenely and unfussily faithful to their fountain. There’s a lesson in that somewhere. Without diminishing our appreciation for estimable enterprise, it helps us not to overestimate our own significance in the grand scheme of things.
